The archaeology of seafaring through the ages

Since the earliest periods, people have taken to the seas and rivers of the world to undertake travel, communication, trade, exploration and warfare.

The timeline that we refer to in this step tells the story of seafaring across the ages using the archaeological record as its primary source. We begin with the earliest evidence for open water crossings; to the ancient continent of Sahul. Then we encounter the prehistoric impact of sea-level change since the last ice age, principally in north-west Europe. Finally we move into the historic period and discover the increasing mastery of the art and knowledge of seafaring and navigation by humans.

This timeline dates back as far as 50000BC. We have crowdsourced the information that ha been included so far. We are hoping to hear from FutureLearners all over the world, so that we get a complete view of seafaring through the ages.

We have a separate timeline (see step image and download) that dates back as far as 800 000 BC. This is for practical reasons - if we included everything before 50000BC on the same timeline, you would spend a lot of time scrolling!